KUALA LUMPUR: Former Sea Games champion Kevin Yeap showed that he has not lost his touch when it comes to open water swimming.
The 32-year-old rolled back the years by winning gold in the men's 30-39 category of the 8km race at the Langkawi Swimming Festival on Sunday.
Kevin, who won the men's 10km open water gold at the 2017 Sea Games, touched home in a time of 1:53.58. He also finished overall second behind Swede Fredric Liljestroem (1:48.04).
Kevin, who is also in charge of the Perak swimming team, showed his capabilities as a coach as his charges also did well in Langkawi.
Teoh Kai Xian won the men's 16-19 category while Teoh Kai Yuan won the women's 16-19 category and the overall title as well.
"I found out about this race on Facebook, and it turned out to be the only race available this year," said Kevin.
"So, I encouraged my swimmers to try it out as I've also been focusing on building up the Perak swimming team in terms of quality and quantity.
"The condition of the race was pretty tough and I was happy to finish it under two hours as that was my target.
"I definitely enjoyed the race and as a coach, it was also satisfying to see my swimmers win as well," added Kevin.
Meanwhile, 48-year-old Liljstroem who trains under Malaysian masters swimmer Cindy Ong, was pleased to be a winner.
"It was a rough swim all the way out to the islands and the 4-6km stretch was extremely hard but I still managed to keep my competitors behind," said Liljstroem.
"Previously when I stayed in Hong Kong, I used to train 18 hours a week but since moving to Malaysia two years ago, I train only six hours but it's a different type of intensity.
"It is, however, really nice to have Langkawi open up for travel and it's nice to be able to come to the beach and relax whilst competing at the same time."
